Neurorehabilitation: Three New NMR Tools

Abstract

NMR methods suitable for neurological diagnosis and research have proliferated since the biomedical NMR era began with the introduction of MRI in the late 1970s. The versatility and noninvasive nature of NMR present special opportunities for the study of tissue repair in the nervous system. Longitudinal observations of anatomical, functional, and biochemical aspects of repair processes through well-established NMR techniques are already feasible. Three newly developed techniques that promise to extend the range and depth of NMR work on neurorehabilitation are discussed in this article. These new techniques allow for the detection of 1) nerve fiber bundle orientation through the diffusional anisotropy of axoplasmic and interstitial water, 2) signs of neural activation within the first few hundred milliseconds after task onset, and 3) two-dimensional mapping of biochemical changes associated with tissue damage and repair. NEUROSCIENTIST 4: 231–235, 1998